The driver walked for more than two hours. He set off at the beginning of the month and arrived at the right time.
After Zhu Yijun led the ministers into Nanhaizi, they first went to the restored palace to rest, eat snacks, drink tea and warm themselves up. The Dajia Lubu escorted the emperor's banner and entered the school grounds.
When the grandmaster arrives, he will place the five-color dragon banner directly in front of the square earth platform in the north of the school grounds. At this time, the earthen platform was surrounded by wooden steps to make a nine-foot-high viewing platform. It was covered with a red carpet and not a trace of loess was exposed.
At this time, the canopy has been opened on the stage, and a throne has been set up. The two sides are blocked by yellow curtains, and smooth wooden red painted railings are installed on the front. The other flags surrounding the big banner were spread out around the earthen platform. Hundreds of them were fluttering in the wind, and the majesty came towards them.
After a short rest, Zhu Yijun took a special cross-guard short straight knife and put it on his shoulder. Because the emperor was too young, the Queen Mother was not allowed to ride a horse, so she could only sit on a chariot. Surrounded by a group of ministers, and with the sound of horns, he entered the school grounds from the east side of the grounds.
At this time, in the school field, Jingying and Jizhen had already arranged their troops to be reviewed. Ji Town is in the west, with three thousand people forming six small square formations. The 30,000 men in the Beijing camp formed six large square formations in the east.
When the officers and soldiers under review heard the three cannon blasts and knew that the emperor had arrived, they all knelt down on one knee and shouted loudly: "Long live, long live, long live!"
At this time, there were more than 40,000 people in the school grounds, including the emperor's military escort. The generals were called out uniformly, and the sound shook the sky. Some civil servants had never seen those on the battlefield, and their faces changed color.
As the saying goes, you are not afraid of not knowing the goods, you are just afraid of comparing goods. Everyone shouted loudly. The Jizhen square formation did not move at all, but the cavalry on the left and right of the Beijing camp made a fuss. Because they wear bits and cannot neigh, some horses are frightened and raise their necks to make dull sounds.
Fearing that the horse would be frightened, the horsemen next to him immediately stood up and touched the horse to comfort it. The team immediately became uneven in height. Yang Bing faced the reviewing stand and heard a commotion behind him, feeling heavy in his heart.
Zhu Yijun stepped onto the high platform amidst the sound of drum music, faced the troops being reviewed and said: "Be flat!" The Han general shouted loudly, and all the troops stood up.
As the saying goes, "Once a person exceeds ten thousand, there are no boundaries." When Zhu Yijun was watching on the stage, the large and small phalanxes on both sides were covered with tassels like a forest, and the flags covered the sky. The army in red clothes and black armor lined up straight out, as if there was no end in sight, and a murderous atmosphere rushed towards his face.
There are six square formations in both places, just divided into different sizes. The front, middle, and rear armies of the Beijing Camp each had five thousand troops lined up in order, and there were five thousand cavalry troops on the left and right sides. Three thousand troops from the front chariot camp and the Shenji Camp were mixed together. Ji Town is also arranged in the same way, but the number of people is ten times less.
At this time, the officers and soldiers under review stood silently and did not say a word. The whole campus could only hear the sound of the big flag being blown by the wind.
When the important ministers who were watching the parade lined up on the viewing platform, Zhang Juzheng requested the order, and Zhu Yijun signaled the military parade to begin.
Tan Lun stepped down from the stage, mounted a white horse, and started jogging in front of the troops under review, escorted by a cavalry of brightly armored pro-army soldiers.
There are flag-carrying officers among the Jinyi soldiers, carrying two gate flags, one green dragon flag with a yellow background at the four corners, and one Beidou flag. Another guard held a large command flag six feet five inches long. Under the flagpole was a crouching tiger command talisman, one foot nine inches wide - this was the king's order flag, which represented the emperor's personal visit and inspection.
The officers and soldiers under review raised their heads and looked at the two flags. After Tan Lun rode a horse from east to west, he returned to the earth platform from the west. Two flags were placed on the left and right sides of the earth platform. He knelt down and kowtowed to Zhu Yijun and handed back the royal flag. This meant that he was running for the emperor. The Ministry of Rites came up with this trick because the Empress Dowager did not allow the emperor to ride a horse before the parade and the chariot would not be used solemnly.
At the end of this lap, three more cannon shots were fired, and the second phase of the parade began.
When Qi Jiguang heard the sound of the cannon, he immediately turned his horse and returned to the center of the town. There was a cannon blast in the Jizhen army formation, trumpets and golden drums sounded, and a large flag with the word Qi was raised to signal the military commanders to take their positions.
Then the Chinese army raised eight flags again. Qi Jiguang waved his hand, and the drums banged. All the horse and infantry generals in Ji Town shouted "kill", and the infantry stamped their right feet down hard. Although there were only two thousand people, , but this sound seemed to shake the school grounds.
According to the instructions of the Chinese army, the cavalry on the left and right formed eight columns and moved together. The "Qianjun Si Ming" flag with a red heart, blue border, and yellow belt with beaded tassels and pheasant tails is in the center of the front row. The Qianzong flag with a blue heart, red border, and yellow belt is arranged in a row, with a total of three rows of twenty-four flag bearers. The cavalry led the troops and marched slowly from west to east to the viewing platform to the rhythm of military drums.
A big drum sounded from the Chinese army, and the infantry all turned to the right and stood still. Immediately with the sound of small drums, the infantry marched forward nearly fifty feet, getting out of the way of the military chariots that were placed in front of the infantry during the inspection, equipped with various firearms such as turrets and rockets. With a sound of gold, he stood firm. There was a big drum sound, and he turned left again and stood still. The whole process is as neat as one person.
Ji Town originally had many types of soldiers, including nearly twenty types of gunmen, quick shooters, gunmen, sword and stickmen, archers, fire soldiers (the ones who took the blame, the weapons were iron poles), etc. Due to the confusion of the weapons, there were It was an eyesore that all the infantrymen of Ji Town carried bows and arrows on their backs and knives on their shoulders. One thousand of them held red tassel spears, and a thousand of them held bird cannons.
After the cavalry had moved in a direction perpendicular to the infantry, the Jizhen infantry, guided by the sound of golden drums, turned left and followed the cavalry, half a mile apart.
Zhu Yijun and other ministers looked west from the viewing platform and saw the three thousand horse infantry of Ji Town in order and with bright armor. Although the troops and horses did not march in unison, the cavalry and horses on them were all of the same height, and they were arranged in rows horizontally and in columns vertically. All the ministers nodded in admiration. That sycophant has already started thinking about a poem in praise of the saint, and plans to submit it as soon as the military parade is over.
When the cavalrymen came to the west side of the viewing platform with flags in hand, the Chinese army drummed twice, and the Jizhen cavalrymen on their horses all pulled out their sabers and pointed upwards diagonally.
At the same time, eight columns were formed from left to right, with one team moving forward, one team reining in their horses, and two teams moving forward and one unit closing. In just a moment, everyone's eyes were blurred, and the eight columns turned into four neat columns!
As the saying goes, an expert will know if something is there as soon as he takes action. This shocked everyone from the emperor to the ministers on the auditorium. The 30,000 people in the capital camp on the east side made a roar, like a swarm of bees dancing and buzzing. Yang Bing and others felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave, their whole bodies were cold.
Before Qi Jiguang finished his performance, there were two more bangs from the big drum, and the horses lined up horizontally, the back rows came forward, and with a sweep, they returned to the eighth row. Two more drums sounded, and it became sixteen rows again!
When they reached the front of the emperor, the whole army shouted together: "Long live! Long live! Long live!"
Zhu Yijun couldn't hide his joy. He looked at Zhang Juzheng beside him, nodded slowly, then turned to the Jizhen cavalry and waved his right hand.
The Jizhen cavalry raised their swords in greeting and heard two drums. After returning to the eighth column, they passed the viewing platform.
At this time, Zhu Yijun figured out why the Jizhen infantry had to be half a mile away from the cavalry. It turned out to be to facilitate the cavalry's change of formation.
Qi Jiguang's cavalry drills are not only beautiful to look at, but more importantly, they are also valuable militarily. First, when the cavalry, which changes formation quickly, is moving on the battlefield, it faces roads of varying widths. If it changes formation quickly, it can pass quickly. In addition, when charging face to face, the damage output of a cavalry team that changes quickly and a cavalry team that charges together are very different.
